0:03

Hello and welcome to the John Mark

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Coma Teachings Podcast. I'm Strawn

0:07

Coleman, your host and part of the teaching

0:09

team here at Practicing The Way. Each

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week on this podcast we share a teaching

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from John Mark or other trusted voices in

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the formation space. And it's great

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to have you with us. In

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today's final teaching in the God Has A

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Name series, John Mark explores

0:26

what it means to image God, or

0:29

in his words, carry God's name into

0:31

the world around us. Like

0:33

a wife taking on her husband's name, John

0:35

Mark teaches, so we now

0:38

carry God's name with us in everything

0:40

we do, be it in

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goodness or profanity. As

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you listen, you may like to ask yourself, how

0:48

am I carrying God's name in the

0:50

relationships and spaces of my life today?

0:54

Here's John Mark. For

1:23

the last eight weeks, we have been working line by

1:25

line through the most quoted verse in

1:37

the Bible by the Bible,

1:40

because it's all about God. To

1:43

recap, God's name, meaning God's

1:45

identity, is first off Yahweh,

1:48

or the Lord in all

1:50

caps in English. Literally,

1:52

it means I am who I am. It's

1:55

crazy that God is a person, not

1:58

a vague force in the universe or

2:00

a a concept or an idea. No,

2:02

God is a person. I don't mean

2:04

a human, but a relational being who

2:06

wants to know and be known. But

2:08

notice it's twice, Yahweh, Yahweh. Why

2:11

is that? Why does God need

2:13

a name in the first place?

2:15

What's wrong with God? Well, remember

2:17

that word God in Hebrew is

2:19

Elohim, and it's used for all

2:21

sorts of real spiritual beings. We

2:23

in the modern world are way

2:25

more comfortable at the language of

2:28

angels, demons, spirits, powers, principalities, powers,

2:30

princes. That's all used throughout the

2:32

scriptures. But in Hebrew, the language

2:34

of Genesis to Malachi, by

2:36

far the number one word used

2:38

for real spiritual beings is Elohim,

2:41

or God with a lowercase G.

2:43

And there's a multiplicity, some good,

2:45

others evil. But there is one

2:48

and only one God with a

2:50

capital G in the English language,

2:52

creator of the universe who spoke

2:55

reality into existence. He is called

2:57

Yahweh. And here's what Yahweh is

2:59

like. First off, first out of

3:02

the gate, Yahweh is compassionate. Remember,

3:04

compassionate is a feeling word. It's

3:07

from the Hebrew root, literally meaning

3:09

female womb. The way

3:11

that a mother feels toward her

3:13

child is the way that God

3:15

feels toward you and me. Gracious,

3:18

on the other hand, is an action

3:20

word. I mean, this God actually does

3:22

stuff. He's not aloof and detached. No,

3:24

he's right there involved in your life.

3:27

And this God is slow to anger.

3:29

Remember in Hebrew, that's an idiom. It's

3:31

literally long of nostrils, right?

3:33

It can't be translated patient. He's

3:35

not volatile. He doesn't fly off

3:37

the handle at a moment's notice.

3:39

He's not waiting to pounce on

3:41

you if you drop the ball.

3:43

No, he's patient. He's slow to

3:45

anger. And he's abounding in love

3:47

and faithfulness, that pairing. Remember that

3:49

word love is hased in Hebrew

3:51

and it's next to impossible to

3:54

translate into English. It's really more

3:56

like covenant loyalty than love. A

3:58

covenant is a promise. And

4:00

God is faithful to the promise He made

4:02

to Abraham, if you know the story of

4:04

the Bible, thousands of years

4:06

ago, I will bless you and you

4:08

will be a what? Blessing.

4:11

God is faithful to that promise. You are living

4:14

proof of that and so am I. And

4:16

God is maintaining Hasad, covenant loyalty,

4:19

to thousands, not just to a

4:21

select few, but to thousands all

4:24

over the world and down through

4:26

human history and forgiving, wickedness, rebellion

4:28

and sin. God, by

4:30

nature, is forgiving of sin

4:33

of all shapes and sizes, but who

4:36

will by no means clear the guilty.

4:39

That said, He's just, right? Visiting

4:42

the iniquity of the fathers on

4:44

the children and the children's children,

4:46

meaning punishing sin in each and

4:48

every generation because God's end goal

4:50

is a world set free from

4:52

sin to the third and

4:55

fourth generation. Remember the analogy

4:57

of a scale with justice on one

4:59

end and mercy on the other? Well,

5:01

the justice is to the third and

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the fourth, the mercy is to thousands.

5:06

God's scale of mercy and justice

5:08

is freighted on the side of

5:10

mercy. This my friends

5:12

is what God is like. Now

5:15

like I said before, Exodus

5:17

34 is central to Jewish

5:19

culture, kind of like

5:22

what John 316 is

5:24

to the church. How many of you know John 316? Yeah,

5:26

all of you for the most part. For God

5:28

so loved the world, He gave His one and

5:31

only Son, you know that text backwards and forwards.

5:33

What John 316 is to

5:35

the church, Exodus 34 is to

5:37

Jewish culture. It's central. Now to

5:39

the rabbis, it's called the 13

5:42

Midot in Hebrew or the 13

5:45

character traits of God because the rabbis break

5:47

the list down into 13. Yahweh

5:49

1, Yahweh 2, the compassionate

5:51

3, gracious 4, slow

5:54

to anger 5, abounding to love on

5:56

down the list. But if you do

5:58

the math to the third and fourth.

6:00

is actually number 12. For

6:03

number 13, you have to keep reading.

6:05

Past verse 7, all the way down

6:07

to verse 14. Let's do

6:09

that. If your Bible is open, let's pick up

6:11

the story, Exodus 34, 8. Moses

6:15

bowed to the ground at once and

6:17

worshiped. Lord, he said, if

6:19

I have found favor in your eyes,

6:21

let the Lord go with us. Although

6:24

this is a stiff-necked people, forgive

6:26

our wickedness and our sin and

6:29

take us as your inheritance. Then

6:31

Yahweh said, I'm making a covenant

6:34

with you. Before all

6:36

your people I will do wonders

6:38

never before done in any nation

6:41

in all the world. You are unique,

6:43

not in Babylon, not in Egypt, only

6:45

in you Israel. The people

6:47

you live among will see how awesome is

6:49

the work that I Yahweh will do for

6:52

you. This is your part. Obey what I

6:54

command you today. I will drive

6:56

out from before you the Amorites,

6:58

Canaanites, Hittites, Parazites, Hivites and Jebusites,

7:00

the seven Canaanite ethnic groups. Be

7:03

careful not to make, my Bible says a

7:05

treaty, but it's actually the word covenant. I'm

7:07

making a covenant with you. You, be careful

7:09

not to make a covenant with those who

7:11

live in the land where you are going.

7:13

Or they will be a snare among

7:16

you. Break down their

7:18

altars, smash their sacred stones and

7:20

cut down their Asherah poles. An

7:23

Asherah pole was a wood

7:25

carving used for the worship

7:27

of Asherah, the Canaanite goddess

7:29

of sexuality and the girlfriend

7:31

of Baal, the Canaanite god

7:33

of weather and Canaanite philosophy

7:35

and mythology. Asherah, God goes

7:37

on, do not worship any other god.

7:40

Weed out and eradicate the

7:42

worship of any other god.

7:44

Don't worship Baal, don't worship

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Asherah, don't worship Moloch or

7:48

Kimash. No, you worship me.

7:51

I am the creator for,

7:53

listen, Yahweh whose name is

7:55

what? Jealous is a

7:57

jealous god. That is number 13 right

7:59

there. Jealous. The

8:02

word jealous, or kada in Hebrew,

8:05

means jealous but not in the sense of a

8:07

boyfriend who's filled with insecurity and what were you

8:09

doing last night and where were you and right

8:12

now that not that kind of jealousy but

8:14

jealous in the sense of a

8:16

passionate, loving, faithful, loyal

8:19

husband fighting for his marriage.

8:22

That's what God is like. He's

8:24

fighting for his bride, you and

8:26

me. He's loyal, fiercely loyal. He's

8:28

passionate in love for you. That's

8:31

what God is like. God is

8:33

jealous. Now that

8:36

is the name of God. Remember

8:40

that a name in

8:42

the ancient near east, unlike the modern

8:45

world, was way more than a label

8:47

like John Mark or Chris or whoever.

8:49

A name was your

8:51

identity and a name was your

8:53

reputation. This is

8:55

the name of God, compassionate,

8:58

gracious, slow to anger, abounding

9:00

to love and faithfulness, forgiving,

9:03

just, jealous. This

9:05

is the identity. This is the

9:08

reputation of God. Now it's interesting,

9:10

verse 14 can be translated, the

9:13

Lord or Yahweh whose name

9:15

is jealous or Yahweh

9:18

who is jealous for

9:20

his name. Now

9:22

by that read his identity, his

9:25

reputation. Now that is really interesting

9:27

to me because it's not just

9:29

Yahweh that is called by this

9:31

name, it's you and me. Turn

9:33

over to Deuteronomy, a few pages

9:35

to the right. We are all

9:37

over the Old Testament today. Deuteronomy

9:39

28, if

9:42

you are new to the Bible, Deuteronomy 28 is one

9:44

of the most important

9:46

chapters in all of the

9:48

Bible, hands down, because it's

9:50

the blessings and the curses

9:52

of the covenant that

9:55

Yahweh made with Israel. It's God

9:57

saying, here's what will happen in

9:59

And if you obey the covenant,

10:02

blessings. And here's what will happen

10:04

if you break the covenant. Curses. Let's

10:06

read the first part, Deuteronomy 28. If

10:09

you fully obey Yahweh your

10:11

God and carefully follow all His commands that

10:14

I give you today, Yahweh

10:16

your God will set you high

10:18

above all the nations on

10:20

earth. This is to Israel,

10:22

right? Over Egypt, over Babylon. Keep in mind

10:25

this is 12 nomadic tribes out in the

10:27

desert. All these blessings will

10:29

come on you and accompany you if you

10:31

obey Yahweh your God. For example, you will

10:33

be blessed in the city and blessed in

10:35

the country. I don't know about the suburbs,

10:37

but the other two. The

10:40

fruit of your womb will be blessed.

10:42

And the crops of your land and

10:44

the young of your livestock, the calves

10:46

of your herds and the lambs of

10:49

your flocks, your basket and your kneading

10:51

trowel will be blessed. For

10:53

those of you who are here this morning and

10:55

you're suffering because your kneading trowel is in bad

10:57

shape, I have

10:59

hope for you. I have good

11:01

news for you. You will be

11:03

blessed when you come in and blessed when

11:06

you go out. Yahweh will grant that the

11:08

enemies who rise up against you will be

11:10

defeated. Eight, Yahweh will send a blessing on

11:12

your barns and on everything you put your

11:14

hand to, Yahweh your God will bless you

11:16

in the land He has given you. How

11:19

many of you at this point you're like,

11:21

sign me up. I'm in. Yahweh

11:23

will establish you as His holy people.

11:25

What kind of people? Yeah,

11:28

more on that in a minute. As He

11:30

promised you on oath, if you keep the

11:32

commands of Yahweh your God and walk any

11:34

obedience to Him. Now, all of that

11:36

was set up for verse 10. Then

11:39

all peoples on earth will

11:41

see that you are

11:44

called by the name of

11:46

Yahweh. You

11:49

Israel, you are called by

11:51

the name of Yahweh. Interesting

11:53

language. Chris Wright who is

11:55

a heavyweight Old Testament scholar

11:57

writes, quote, the expression

12:00

Called by the name of

12:02

denotes ownership and intimate relationship.

12:05

In ordinary use it expresses the longing of

12:07

anxious women to belong to a husband, Isaiah

12:09

4-1, or the close,

12:11

authenticating relationship of a prophet to

12:13

his God, Jeremiah 15-16. To

12:17

be called by the name of Yahweh

12:19

is to be locked into relationship with

12:21

the living God. I think of my

12:23

wife. Her maiden name was Ha'uragi. Her

12:26

grandfather was a count from the Basque

12:28

country in the north part of Spain.

12:31

And sadly she's not rich, but that's okay.

12:33

I love her anyway. And

12:36

when she on our wedding day

12:38

said, I do, she changed her

12:40

name. She is no

12:43

longer called a Ha'uragi. She is called

12:45

a Comer, which

12:47

is flat but much easier to spell. And

12:50

she now is called by my name and

12:53

so are her children. Jude and Sunday and

12:55

Moses are called by my name. It's a

12:57

way of saying to the world that she

12:59

is locked in relationship and a covenant and

13:01

a promise with me for life. The

13:05

same is true of you and me. You

13:07

are sons and daughters in the family

13:10

of God. You are in a sense

13:12

the bride of the creator of the

13:14

universe. You are locked in. You are

13:16

called by the name. Now

13:18

this language is used all over

13:20

the scriptures. For example, Second Chronicles,

13:24

if my people who are what? Called

13:27

by my name will humble themselves and

13:29

pray and seek my face and turn

13:31

from their wicked ways, then I will

13:34

hear from heaven and I will forgive

13:36

their sin and heal their land. Or

13:39

I think of Isaiah, do

13:41

not be afraid for I am with you, Israel. I

13:44

will bring your children from the east to gather

13:46

you from the west. I will say to the

13:48

north, give them up to the south. Do not

13:51

hold them back as a speaking of exile. Bring

13:53

my sons from afar, my daughters from the ends

13:55

of the earth. Everyone who is what? Called

13:58

by my name whom I. created

14:00

for my glory whom I formed

14:02

and made." Or last, I

14:04

think of Amos, an obscure prophet embedded

14:07

in the Hebrew scriptures. How many of

14:09

you read Amos this morning? Yep,

14:12

exactly. In that

14:14

day, I will restore David's fallen shelter,

14:17

a way of saying the kingdom of

14:19

David torn apart by sin. I

14:21

will repair its broken walls and restore

14:24

its ruins, a way of saying Jerusalem,

14:26

and I will rebuild it as it

14:28

used to be to glory. So that

14:30

they, Israel, may possess the remnant of

14:32

Edom. Now Edom, if you know the

14:34

Bible, are the arch enemies of Israel.

14:37

But listen, possess the remnant

14:40

of Edom and all the nations

14:42

that what? Bear my

14:44

name, declares Yahweh, who will do these

14:46

things? Amos' striking vision

14:48

of the future is a day

14:51

when all of the nations, not

14:53

just Israel, but all,

14:55

even the enemies of Israel, even

14:57

Edom, even Babylon, even Egypt, even

14:59

America, when all the nations are

15:02

called by God's name. So Paul

15:04

actually quotes this obscure prophecy in

15:06

Acts 15 when he's arguing

15:09

for why the church should be made

15:11

up of Jews and Gentiles. And he's

15:13

arguing this was God's agenda all along.

15:15

Think of Amos. God's agenda

15:17

from the beginning of time was

15:19

for all the nations to be

15:21

called by the name, locked in

15:24

relationship with God. And you

15:26

are living proof of that. How many of you are Jewish?

15:30

Well done. In the front row, two

15:32

of you, right? Now

15:34

my last name is Comer, but when I

15:36

was in Israel, they all said that during

15:38

the Holocaust that the family Cohen, for the

15:40

most part, changed their name to Comer, which

15:42

is interesting because Cohen, as you know, is

15:44

the last surviving priestly line, which would explain

15:47

so much, right?

15:50

So the three of us, but other

15:52

than that, the majority of you

15:54

are not Jewish, but here

15:56

you are, called by the name

15:58

of Israel's God, adopted in Israel.

16:00

the family of God by faith

16:02

in Jesus, you are

16:05

called by the name of

16:07

Yahweh. Now this

16:10

means two things or really two options, two

16:12

ways you can walk with this reality.

16:15

Either you can carry the

16:17

name or you

16:19

can profane the name. Let's

16:22

parse that out. First off, option A,

16:24

you can carry the name. Turn over

16:26

to Exodus 19 to the left really

16:28

fast. Exodus 34 is

16:31

actually the remaking of the

16:33

covenant with Israel. The original

16:36

covenant is actually in Exodus

16:38

19. Let's read the story

16:40

starting in verse 3. Then

16:46

Moses went up to God and Yahweh called

16:48

to him from the mountain and said, this

16:51

is what you are to say to the descendants of

16:53

Jacob, what you are to tell the people of Israel.

16:55

Quote, now the next paragraph is one of the most

16:58

important paragraphs in all of the Bible.

17:01

You yourselves have seen what I did

17:04

to Egypt and how I

17:06

carried you on eagle's wings and brought

17:08

you to myself. Now

17:10

if you obey me fully

17:13

and keep my covenant, then

17:16

out of all nations you

17:18

will be my treasured possession.

17:21

You, not Babylon, not Egypt,

17:23

not Assyria, you, although

17:26

the whole earth is mine, you

17:28

will be for me two things, a

17:31

kingdom of priests and a holy nation.

17:33

End quote. These are the words you

17:35

are to speak to the Israelites. You

17:38

will be for me a kingdom

17:41

of priests. What is a

17:43

priest? A priest

17:45

is a representative. A

17:47

priest represents God to the world

17:50

and the world to God. And

17:52

believe it or not, you are

17:54

a priest, even

17:57

if you're Catholic. You are.

18:00

You're filled with the Spirit. You

18:02

are the people of God. You are a

18:05

priest. That

18:07

is fascinating to me. You represent God

18:10

to the world. You

18:12

represent God to the city.

18:14

How? Well, by living holy,

18:16

it's right there. You shall be, for

18:18

me, a kingdom, a priest, and a

18:20

holy nation. It's interesting, that word holy,

18:23

we don't talk about much anymore. It's kind of

18:25

out of vogue. But the

18:27

biblical authors talk about holiness all

18:30

over the place. And the

18:33

word holy, or kadash in Hebrew, means

18:36

set apart for, or dedicated

18:39

to. Interesting, the first

18:41

time the word is ever used is

18:43

actually in Genesis 2 of the Sabbath.

18:45

God, quote, sanctified the seventh day and

18:47

called it holy. Think

18:49

of the Sabbath. It's a day that

18:52

is set apart for God, that is

18:54

dedicated to worship of the living God.

18:56

That's holiness right there. And

18:58

what's interesting to me is that the

19:01

passage on holiness in all of

19:03

the Bible is actually not in the New

19:05

Testament. It's in Leviticus 19. Really

19:07

fast with your finger right here in Exodus 19,

19:10

because we're coming back. Turn over to Leviticus 19.

19:13

One book over, just because that's fun to

19:15

say. Turn to Leviticus 19. You

19:20

just don't think I'm funny. It's OK.

19:25

I don't think I am either, but at least I'm trying.

19:29

I'm doing a good job. I think

19:31

a lot of people disagree with you, but

19:33

thank you. I appreciate that. Leviticus 19. Let's

19:37

read. Yahweh said to Moses,

19:39

speak to the entire assembly of

19:41

Israel, say to them, quote, be

19:43

holy because what? I

19:47

Yahweh your God am holy. Interesting

19:52

logic. Be holy. Why?

19:54

Because I'm holy, and I'm

19:56

Yahweh, and I'm your God. Now

19:58

this is interesting to me because. you would think

20:01

God would say, Be Holy because it's the best

20:03

way to live. It's the

20:05

way God created you. It was God's

20:07

original intent. It's the way to life

20:09

and joy and peace and freedom. It's

20:11

the best way to live fully human,

20:13

fully awake and fully alive. You would

20:15

think God would say that because that's

20:17

true. But to

20:19

God, that's actually the secondary

20:22

motivation. The primary motivation

20:24

to live holy is because I

20:26

am holy. And keep reading. Now

20:29

let's read about what God means

20:31

by holiness. Three, each

20:33

of you must respect your mother and father,

20:36

and you must observe my Sabbath. Why? I

20:38

am Yahweh your God. Do not turn to

20:40

idols or make metal gods for yourselves. Why?

20:42

I am Yahweh your God. Nine, when you

20:45

reap the harvest of your land. OK, holiness

20:47

is about money. Do not reap to the

20:49

very edges of your field or gather the

20:52

gleanings of your harvest. Do not go over

20:54

your vineyard a second time or pick up

20:56

the grapes that have fallen. Leave them for

20:58

the poor and the foreigner. In today's language,

21:01

the illegal immigrant. Why? I am Yahweh

21:04

your God. Do not

21:06

steal. Do not lie. Do not deceive

21:08

one another. Do not swear falsely. Why?

21:10

I am Yahweh. Do not defraud or

21:12

rob your neighbor. Do not hold back

21:14

the wages of a hired worker overnight.

21:16

Do not curse the deaf, put a

21:18

stumbling block in front of the blind.

21:20

Fear your God. I am Yahweh. Fascinating.

21:23

Notice how holiness is so much more than

21:25

what my friends and I used to say

21:27

in high school. Don't smoke, chew, or go

21:30

with girls who do. Right? And

21:33

in America, that's how we

21:35

define holiness. By

21:37

what we don't do. And

21:40

there's a place for that. But holiness in

21:42

God's mind is defined, yeah, by what

21:44

you don't do. But more than anything,

21:47

by what you do. In

21:49

particular, justice. Read the next line. 15,

21:52

do not pervert justice. Do not

21:54

show partiality to the poor, favoritism to the

21:56

great. Judge your neighbor fairly. Do not go

21:58

about spreading slander or gossip among your. Jesus

46:00

believes in you because Jesus believes in the

46:02

Spirit of God in you and Jesus

46:05

believes that when you pray and when

46:07

you ask anything in my

46:10

name quote, I Will

46:12

do it And that phrase

46:14

in my name is not a cliche that

46:17

you tag on to the end of a prayer God

46:19

hooked me up with the dreamy

46:21

husband in Jesus name. Amen Now

46:25

it doesn't work that way. I mean, maybe it does

46:27

but he's gracious but no

46:30

That phrase in my name is

46:32

a way of saying pray in

46:34

line with Jesus name with Jesus

46:36

identity with Jesus Reputation pray for

46:38

the kind of stuff that Jesus

46:40

is all about Pray

46:43

for justice. Ah, Jesus is about that pray

46:45

for love. Jesus is about that pray that

46:47

you would be compassionate And guess what? The

46:50

answer is yes, pray that you

46:52

would be slow to anger. Yes, I will

46:54

do it pray that you would be forgiving

46:56

Yes, I will do it. That's a promise.

46:58

Do you believe that? That's

47:00

a promise that whenever you stop

47:02

and take a deep breath and pray

47:04

in Jesus name in line with what?

47:07

Jesus is like he says quote.

47:09

I will do it. That's why he

47:11

believes in you So he believes

47:13

in the Spirit of God in you

47:15

That's why he trusts you to carry

47:18

the name along with your missional

47:20

community not alone But

47:22

along with your family to your neighborhood

47:24

to foster care children in this city

47:26

to the world He

47:29

believes in you and you my

47:31

friends and my family are

47:33

called to carry the name What

47:40

a beautiful challenging and

47:42

hopeful message There's

47:45

one thing in particular that John Mark said

47:47

that really hit me was

47:49

this If we

47:51

can wreck the name of Jesus in

47:54

one generation Maybe

47:56

we can write the name of Jesus in

47:58

one generation I

48:02

don't know about you, but that

48:04

felt like a profound prophetic invitation

48:06

of hope in this moment that

48:08

we're living through. So

48:11

I wondered if we just sit with that, to

48:14

allow it to sink in, to kind of meditate

48:16

on it or open ourselves up to God, the

48:18

possibility that we may write the name

48:21

of Christ in our generation.

48:25

And to allow the Holy Spirit to give us that hope

48:28

and the grace that we need to

48:30

make that true. So

48:33

if you feel the same as I do and you just want

48:35

to give a minute to praying this hopeful

48:37

vision, then

48:39

take a minute with me now to just sit with God on

48:42

it, to take a

48:44

few deep breaths and to let

48:46

Him speak. To

48:48

do that I'll just leave one minute of silence

48:51

and close with Amen. I

49:52

mean... This

50:04

podcast is from Practicing the Way. We

50:07

develop resources to help churches and small

50:09

groups apprentice in the way of Jesus.

50:12

And all we make is completely free because

50:15

it's already been paid for by The Circle,

50:17

a community of monthly givers who partner

50:20

with us to see spiritual formation integrated

50:22

into the church at large. So

50:25

thanks for today's episode goes to Gracie

50:27

from Chicago, Illinois, Andrew from

50:30

Madison, Wisconsin, Tracy from Cape Town,

50:32

South Africa, Anders from

50:34

Hood River, Oregon, and Chuck from

50:36

Springfield, Illinois. Thank

50:39

you all very much. To

50:41

join The Circle or to learn more about running a

50:43

practice in your church or community, visit

50:46

practicingtheway.org. Until

50:48

next time, may the grace of the

50:50

Lord Jesus Christ and the love of

50:53

God and the fellowship of the Holy

50:55

Spirit be with you all.